cloud-vmlisted

# Cloud VM (Box) Use this when the user asks for a **VM, a cloud machine, a remote box, or a Linux dev server** — something they SSH into, install things on, and return to later. Unlike ephemeral sandboxes, a Box **persists**: stop it, resume it days later, disk intact, with its own IPv4. ## When to prefer Box - "Give me a Linux VM I can SSH into" → exactly this. - Must survive across sessions → resume from snapshot. - Needs a real, reachable IP → dedicated IPv4 per VM. - Budget-conscious → per-second flat pricing, ~10× cheaper than E2B/Modal/Vercel Sandbox for steady fleets. Prefer another tool for: GPU serverless (Modal) or non-EU regions (Box is EU-only). ## Prereqs `curl -fsSL https://box.ascii.dev/install | sh`, then `export BOX_API_KEY=…` and `box login "$BOX_API_KEY" --json`. ## Recipe ```bash box_id="$(box new --json | jq -r 'select(.event == "ready") | .id')" box ssh "$box_id" # CLI provisions its key automatically box info "$box_id" --json # IP / connection details box stop "$box_id" --json # snapshot + archive box resume "$box_id" --json # restore later ``` ## Specs & billing Hetzner CX33: 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 80 GB SSD, x86_64, root Ubuntu, dedicated IPv4. $20 ≈ 555 VM-hours, per second. Default 1 h auto-stop — use `box new --no-auto-stop` or `box extend <id> --hours N` (TTL ≤ 30 days). Disk-level snapshots only; EU-only; 100 active VMs soft cap.